Ichor or Blood

Chapter X

The figure stepped forward, into the light of a lamppost. Percy's eyes widened and his jaw fell open.

"You can't be... you're dead..."

"Percy, we don't have much time—"

In a flash, he closed the distance between them and pointed Riptide at the underside of the figure's jaw.

"Luke," the son of Poseidon snarled, fury bubbling up inside his chest.

The blond cautiously raised his arms in a placating manner, his intense blue eyes staring fixated on the other demigod. He looked just the same as Percy remembered, from head to toe. Even the scar was the same.

Percy narrowed his eyes, but lowered his sword. "What are you doing here? How are you here? I thought you've chosen rebirth."

Luke breathed a sigh of relief as soon as the sharp point of the sword was no longer pressed agains his throat.

"I'm not going to lie, Percy. I'm here to warn you. "

"Warn me about what?!" Percy snapped. "It's not like I don't have enough on my mind as it is."

"Listen to me," Luke's tone was harsh and demanding. "This is important, otherwise... otherwise I wouldn't have risked escaping the Underworld just to come here and have a little chat with you, okay?!"

Deep down, Percy had forgiven Luke, but still, seeing him in flesh and blood was pulling at long forgotten strings of anger inside the demigod. It took a moment or two before he was calm again, understanding that the son of Hermes had come to him with good intentions.

Percy sighed, his shoulders slumping forward. "I'm tired, Luke. I'm so tired."

A look of understanding flashed in Luke's eyes and, for a second, he hesitated.

"I'm sorry, Percy, but now you know how I felt. It doesn't justify what I did, but—"

"What's done is done, it's in the past now and we have forgiven you."

"Thank you," Luke whispered and looked at his feet as he scraped the ground with the heel of his sneaker.

"But you didn't come here to have little heartfelt chats with me."

"No," he glanced up, "The Underworld is a mess right now. Something ancient stirred up here, on Earth."

Percy nodded grimly. They started walking around the side of the warehouse as they talked.

"You know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

"Yes..."

In the shortest version he could come up with, Percy explained what had happened to him, from the first time loop, to his blood turned ichor, to his powers, to Chaos awaking, to Annabeth's death and now to the gods hunting him down.

"Wow, that's... a lot to process."

"You tell me."

Luke rubbed the back of his neck. "Then it means I was right, coming here and finding you."

The son of Poseidon listened carefully to what the older demigod was saying.

"Back when I was—" he spat the next words like they were the plague, "when Kronos used my body as a vessel, I was able to see inside his mind, for a few short seconds, before feeling like I was getting incinerated, and gods... It was horrible, I can't and don't want to describe the kind of things I saw." He shook his head like he was trying to expel some bad thoughts. "Anyway, there was one thing, though, that caught my attention. A feeble thought, but it repeated in the back of the titan's mind like a mantra. At first I didn't know what to make of it, but it stuck with me and when that shockwave coming from the surface hit the Underworld, I knew I had to warn you somehow."

"So?" Percy asked intrigued and terrified at the same time. "What is it?"

Luke closed his eyes for a second as if trying to remember.

"The timeless comes."

Percy waited for Luke to continue, but the blond didn't.

"What? That's all?"

"Yeah," Luke answered, looking a little unsatisfied himself. "But it seemed very important and... this thought was accompanied by a feeling. A constant buzz of terror. Kronos was terrified by it, and trust me," he huffed, "I've never seen Kronos terrified of anything in the entire time that I served him."

"But now we know that it's Chaos, right?" Percy asked with a shrug. "Probably Kronos could feel the timeless or whatever and was scared that it—"

A loud shriek erupted a few feet in front of them. Instantly, Percy uncapped Riptide and Luke pulled out a dagger from a sheath at his side, both of them adopting a defensive stance, ready for an ambush.

Every lamppost on one mile radius seemed to have gone crazy, lights flickering on an off until they exploded, one by one, into a cascade of white sparks, until the whole street was shrouded in a thick darkness.

The sound of flapping wings came from overhead. In the faint glow of his celestial bronze sword, Percy caught glimpse of a huge bat-like creature. Realization dawned upon him.

"The Furies!" He yelled, turning towards Luke. "They are here for you!"

Luke raised his eyebrows at Percy, while still trying to intercept any potential attack from Hades's monsters.

"You don't say..."

"Luke Castellan," one of the Furies screeched from somewhere to their left. "Lord Hades is expecting you!"

Percy slashed in a wide arc in the direction of the voice, but his blade only met thin air.

"Percy Jackson! Your head is wanted. On a spike!" The Fury laughed, her sisters joining in, sounding like rabid witches. "We are so going to get a promotion when we capture you!"

While they were busy laughing and screeching, an idea popped in Percy's head. He turned and whispered to Luke.

"They are using shadow-travel, we need light. Lots of it."

Luke nodded in understanding. "Yes, but it's the middle of the night. How are we going to do that?"

"Let me worry about it," said Percy. "I need you to cover for me."

That said, Luke stepped in front of him, slashing the air at every flap of wings.

Percy's heart was racing as he approached a broken lamppost. His idea was crazy, and he didn't know if it would work, but he had to try. Without a second thought, he firmly clasped his palms around the metal base of the pole and closed his eyes, trying to conjure the power he had been feeling over the past days. He knew he had it in him, he had tried to push it down before, to oppress it, but now... he was doing the exact opposite, calling it back to him.

At first nothing happened, and for a split second Percy doubted himself, but then, everything erupted. Heat pooled in his stomach like lava, then spread to his arms, rippling through his veins. The tips of his fingers buzzed and he forced the power out of his body, into the metal shaft. The lamppost lit up with the power of a millions volts, and night turned into day.

Even with his eyes closed, the light was blinding. He hoped that Luke had been smart enough to close his eyes. The Furies shrieked in pain, agonizing screams piercing through the air. Percy let go of the lamppost, which kept emanating light, and slumped backwards, his muscles burning and feeling like lead.

To his left, he saw Luke chasing after one of the creatures, whose skin was bristled and burnt. Gathering all the strength he had left, the demigod pushed himself off the ground and raised Riptide, charging into battle. He ran straight ahead, where one Fury was writhing on the ground.

When he was next to it, Percy raised his sword and brought it down in one swift motion, the celestial bronze blade cutting through the monster's flesh like it was butter, but then the strangest thing happened. Instead of turning into a pile of golden dust, the body of the Fury glowed red, like it was burning up from the inside. Small pieces, like ash particles, started falling off from it as it disintegrated.

Then the horrifying part came. The body particles began floating towards Percy, who was slowly backing away. It was gross and unsanitary, Percy was thinking. He didn't want nasty pieces of Fury flesh anywhere near him.

"What the heck is happening?!" Percy shouted.

"I don't know, get away from there," Luke ordered and rushed over, grasping Percy's wrist with the intention of dragging him away. "Ouch!" Luke yelped and yanked his arm back, clutching his palm in pain. "What the hell?!"

Percy looked down at his own wrist and what he saw made him freeze in place. An ouroboros bracelet was strapped around his wrist, glowing orange as if it were molten metal. All the particles from the Fury's body slammed into the bracelet, but surprisingly, it absorbed them right up and with every piece that went through it, Percy felt a bit stronger. By the end of it, he felt like he had just woken from a good night's sleep, drank three coffees and five energy drinks.

"What in the name of Zeus just happened?" Luke demanded, staring at the younger demigod in shock.

Too shaken up to answer, Percy shrugged, his eyes locked on the Ouroboros as its glow slowly faded.

"We have to go, there might be other monsters coming. Let's go."

The two of them started heading back towards the warehouse at a brisk pace, trying to pay attention to other things that might have been lurking in the dark.

"How did this get here?" Percy asked, turning his wrist around as they walked.

"It doesn't matter right now."

"Yes, but—"

"Focus, Percy."

"I am focused! I just saved both our asses back there and need I remind you who the Furies were after?!"

Luke pressed his lips together, as if trying not to say something. After a moment, he sighed.

"Yes, you saved us. Thank you for that, but Percy, I can't go back. I can't."

If he didn't know any better, Percy could swear he heard fear in Luke's voice.

"I never said you should go back. This is your chance, Luke. Try not to screw it up this time."

They reached the warehouse without any other incidents. They climbed down into Leo's Stark Cave and Percy was ready to apologize, but as soon as they stepped in, his blood turned to ice.

"Percy, you're back!" Hazel chirped happily.

"And... you're not alone," Jason added.

"What are you doing here?!" Percy asked, eyes focused on a person who hadn't been there the last time.

Luke froze right next to him. "Annabeth...?" He said unsure, then turned to Percy. "I though you said that she was—"

"That's because this is not Annabeth!" Percy cut him off, bitterly eyeing his girlfriend's lookalike. "Ann. What are you doing here?"

She didn't answer, her stare glued on Luke. Before anything else could happen, the two ran and hugged each other fiercely.

"Alright, I am confused," Leo announced. "Who is he again?"

"This is Luke, Luke Castellan," the son of Poseidon said.

A collective gasp rippled through the room.

"The Luke Castellan?" Piper marveled.

Luke, who was standing side by side with Ann, nodded.

"Alright, see you tomorrow guys, I'm going to go an burry myself in sand because I've had enough mindfucks for a single night," Leo said and let himself fall on one of the beanbags.

"Ann," Percy repeated, "What are you doing here?"

She looked at him guiltily with a pair of gray eyes, sending a jolt of pain through Percy's chest. He was forced to look away, the uncanny resemblance between her and Annabeth being too much for him at that moment.

"I know you hate me, but—"

"That's the problem," he cut her off, "I don't hate you. I can't."

His chest was imbued in pain, a crushing weight atop of it.

"I am Annabeth, Percy. More than you would think. All her memories, they are mine. All her feelings, they are mine."

"No." He shook his head vehemently.

"Listen to her, Percy, please," Luke intervened.

"Stay out of it," the son of Poseidon hissed. "All of you! Stay out of it!"

All his friends backed off.

"You're not Annabeth. You will never be!"

A pained expression flashed on Ann's face. She swallowed drily, then steeled her face. "Right. I don't even know why I'm bothering with a Seaweed Brain like you. I thought I could count on you Percy, that you'd stand by me, no matter what. As long as we're together."

His heart screamed painfully at the sound of her words, his face softening for a second, before morphing into pure rage. "Don't you dare say those words to me! They were hers! You have no right!"

Ann gulped, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks. "Then why do I know them?" She sniffed. "Why do I remember every second we spent together like I was there with you?!"

Percy was trying to fight back his own tears, but the image of Chaos killing the real Annabeth fueled his anger. "You aren't Annabeth. She is dead. D E A D," he spelled the word out loud, as tears fell from his eyes. His whole body was shaking.

"Percy, maybe you should, uh, cool down a little," Frank said nervously, but was ignored completely.

"You think I don't remember that? You think I don't remember the pain and terror I felt as Chaos held me up by the neck?! And you know what?" Her voice and words cut through Percy like acid daggers. "It was your face I saw as he was killing me. It was all I could think about and you know what? I'm not sorry that I did, because I love you, Percy, I do, but right now you're acting like a complete idiot!"

For a moment, everyone was frozen. Piper, Leo, Jason, Frank, Hazel and Luke seemed so tense, like they were ready for the other two demigods to snap and kill each other.

Percy clenched his fists and tried not to let his world crumble at the sound of what Ann had just said.

"I wanted you to save me, Percy," she continued with the same acidic tone, "but I'm not stupid. I knew you couldn't. I hoped you would accept me like this," she gestured at herself. "But so far, I was wrong."

Percy knew he would regret his words later, but he still opened his mouth and said them anyway.

"You're not Annabeth, you're just another piece of clay."

Ann gripped Luke's arm for support. She nodded, glanced away, then back at Percy. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying, but despite herself, she put on a pained smile. "Alright then, I won't bother you again."

She started to leave, but Percy stopped her. "You can stay here, I don't care, I'll be the one who walks away."

"Percy!"

He heard his friends protest, but except for Ann's face, everything else was a blur, blocked away by the agony in his heart.

She stared at him with her stormy gray eyes and said the words that destroyed Percy completely.

"I love you Seaweed Brain, but remember today, in this place... you broke my heart."

You broke my heart, Percy.

A/N: Thank you, people, for your patience! I'm sorry you had to wait so long for this chapter, but ta-da, here it is.

If you are kind enough, please drop a review. They kind of make my day when I read them, so thank you again in anticipation. Also, a huge thanks to everyone who has already reviewed, followed and favorited!

Hopefully, the next chapter will come a lot sooner than this one.